diff --git a/core/dbt/parser/manifest.py b/core/dbt/parser/manifest.py
index 98e7cea6257..16a7c5d5ae8 100644
--- a/core/dbt/parser/manifest.py
+++ b/core/dbt/parser/manifest.py
@@ -626,10 +626,11 @@ def check_for_spaces_in_resource_names(self):
             if self.root_project.args.REQUIRE_RESOURCE_NAMES_WITHOUT_SPACES
             else EventLevel.WARN
         )
+        flags = get_flags()
 
         for node in self.manifest.nodes.values():
             if " " in node.name:
-                if improper_resource_names == 0 or self.root_project.args.DEBUG:
+                if improper_resource_names == 0 or flags.DEBUG:
                     fire_event(
                         SpacesInResourceNameDeprecation(
                             unique_id=node.unique_id,
@@ -641,7 +642,6 @@ def check_for_spaces_in_resource_names(self):
 
         if improper_resource_names > 0:
             if level == EventLevel.WARN:
-                flags = get_flags()
                 dbt.deprecations.warn(
                     "resource-names-with-spaces",
                     count_invalid_names=improper_resource_names,